June 20
It is very often the last day of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere and the last day of the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere. Events * 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius' victory over Attila the Hun. *1214 - University of Oxford receives its charter. *1631 - The sack of Baltimore: the Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates. *1685 - Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott declares himself King of England at Bridgwater. *1756 - British garrison imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta. *1782 - The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States. *1789 - Deputies of the French Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath. *1791 - King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes. *1819 - The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. She is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, but most of the journey was made under sail. *1837 - Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne. *1862 - Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated. *1863 - West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state. *1877 - Alexander Graham Bell installs world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. *1887 - Queen Victoria's golden jubilee. *1893 - Lizzie Borden is acquitted of murdering her stepmother and father. *1919 - 150 die at the Teatro Yaguez fire, Mayagüez. *1948 - Toast of the Town, later The Ed Sullivan Show, debuts. *1956 - A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashed in Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey killing 74 people. *1959 - A train-bus collision near Lauffen, Germany kills 43 people *1960 - Independence of Mali and Senegal. *1963 - The so-called "red telephone" is established between Soviet Union and United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis. *1966 - Canada sells 336 million bushels (9.14 teragrams) of wheat to Soviet Union. *1973 - Ezeiza massacre in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Snipers fired upon left-wing peronists. At least 13 are killed and more than 300 injured. *1977 - Oil begins to flow through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). *1978 - An earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale hits Thessaloniki, Greece. *1980 - Roberto Duran starts his classic boxing trilogy with Sugar Ray Leonard by defeating him in Canada by a decision in 15 rounds, to gain the WBC world Welterweight championship. * 1980 - Augusta AVA became the first federally recognized American Viticultural Area. *1983 - LZW patent filed in USA. *1990 - Asteroid Eureka discovered. *1991 - German parliament decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin. *2003 - LZW patent expires in USA. *2003 - Formation of Wikimedia Foundation announced. Births *1005 - Ali az-Zahir, caliph (d. 1036) *1389 - John, regent of England (d. 1435) *1566 (O.S.) - King Sigismund III Vasa (d. 1632) *1583 - Jacob De la Gardie, Swedish soldier and statesman (d. 1652) *1634 - Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy (d. 1675) *1642 (O.S.) - George Hickes, English minister and scholar (d. 1715) *1647 - John George III (d. 1691) *1717 - Jacques Saly, French sculptor (d. 1776) *1723 (O.S.) - Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1816) * 1723 (O.S.) - Theophilus Lindsey, English theologian (d. 1808) * 1737 - Tokugawa Ieharu, Japanese military (d. 1786) *1756 - Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (d. 1792) *1763 - Wolfe Tone, Irish patriot (d. 1798) *1770 - Moses Waddel, American educator/minister and bestselling author (d. 1840) *1771 - Thomas Douglas, Scottish philanthropist (d. 1820) *1786 - Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French poet (d. 1859) *1808 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (d. 1888) *1819 - Jacques Offenbach, German-born French composer (d. 1880) *1858 - Charles W. Chesnutt, American writer (d. 1932) *1860 - Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer, footballer, and coach (d. 1937) *1861 - Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (d. 1947) *1872 - George Carpenter, the 5th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1948) *1885 - Andrzej Gawroński, Polish scholar (d. 1927) *1887 - Kurt Schwitters, German painter and writer (d. 1948) *1889 - John S. Paraskevopoulos, Greek-South African astronomer (d. 1951) *1891 - John A. Costello, second Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland (d. 1976) *1894 - Lloyd Hall, American chemist (d. 1971) *1896 - Wilfrid Pelletier, French Canadian conductor (d. 1982) *1897 - Elisabeth Hauptmann, German writer (d. 1973) *1899 - Jean Moulin, French Resistance leader (d. 1943) *1905 - Lillian Hellman, American playwright (d. 1984) *1907 - Jimmy Driftwood, American songwriter and musician (d. 1998) *1909 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor (d. 1959) *1911 - Gail Patrick, American actress (d. 1980) *1912 - Anthony Buckeridge, English author (d. 2004) *1915 - Terence Young, British film director (d. 1994) *1916 - Jean-Jacques Bertrand, premier of Quebec (d. 1973) *1917 - Igor Śmiałowski, Polish actor (d. 2006) *1918 - George Lynch, American auto racer (d. 1997) * 1918 - Zoltán Sztáray, Hungarian writer *1920 - Hans Gerschwiler, Swiss figure skater *1924 - Chet Atkins, American guitar player (d. 2001) * 1924 - Audie Murphy, American Medal of Honor recipient and actor (d. 1971) * 1924 - Fritz Koenig, German sculptor *1928 - Eric Dolphy, American jazz musician (d. 1964) * 1928 - Jean-Marie Le Pen, French politician *1930 - Paul Pender, American boxer * 1930 - Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish artist *1931 - Olympia Dukakis, Greek-American actress * 1931 - Martin Landau, American actor *1932 - Robert Rozhdestvensky, Russian poet (d. 1994) *1933 - Danny Aiello, American actor *1934 - Rossana Podestà, Italian actress *1935 - Len Dawson, former football player * 1935 - Neal Knox, gun rights activist (d. 2005) *1936 - Billy Guy, American singer (The Coasters) (d. 2002) *1937 - Jerry Keller, pop singer and songwriter *1938 - Mickie Most, British record producer (d. 2003) *1939 - Ramakant Desai, Indian cricketer (d. 1998) *1940 - Eugen Drewermann, German theologian * 1940 - John Mahoney, English actor *1941 - Ulf Merbold, German physicist and astronaut * 1941 - Stephen Frears, English film director *1942 - Brian Wilson, American musician; founder of The Beach Boys *1944 - Cheryl Holdridge, American actress *1945 - Anne Murray, Canadian singer *1946 - Bob Vila, television presenter * 1946 - Xanana Gusmão, President of East Timor * 1946 - Andre Watts, American pianist *1947 - Dolores Brooks, American singer (the Crystals) * 1947 - Candy Clark, American actress * 1947 - Josef Clemens, German bishop and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity * 1947 - Ivo Milazzo, Italian comic book artist *1948 - Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru *1949 - Lionel Richie, American musician (The Commodores) * 1949 - Alan Longmuir, Scottish bass guitarist (Bay City Rollers) *1951 - Tress MacNeille, American voice actress * 1951 - Paul Muldoon, Northern Irish poet *1952 - John Goodman, American actor * 1952 - Larry Riley, American actor (d. 1992) * 1952 - Vikram Seth, Indian poet *1953 - Ulrich Mühe, German actor (d. 2007) *1954 - Michael Anthony, American musician (Van Halen) * 1954 - Ilan Ramon, Israeli combat pilot and astronaut (d. 2003) *1956 - Ace Andres, American musician * 1956 - Peter Reid, English former footballer *1958 - Chuck Wagner, American actor *1960 - John Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran) *1963 - Amir Derakh, American musician (Orgy) * 1963 - Don West, American professional wrestling announcer *1964 - Pierfrancesco Chili, Italian motorcycle racer * 1964 - Silke Möller, German track and field athlete *1967 - Nicole Kidman, American-born Australian actress *1968 - Robert Rodriguez, American film director *1969 - MaliVai Washington, American former tennis player * 1970 - Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco * 1970 - Andrea Nahles, German politician *1971 - Josh Lucas, American actor *1972 - Paul Bako, American baseball player *1973 - Chino Moreno, American musician (Deftones) *1974 - Attila Czene, Hungarian swimmer *1975 - Daniel Zítka, Czech footballer *1976 - Jerome Fontamillas,Filipino American musician (Switchfoot) *1976 - Carlos Lee, Panamanian baseball player * 1976 - Rob Mackowiak, American baseball player * 1976 - Juliano Belletti, Brazilian footballer *1977 - Gordan Giriček, Croatian basketball player *1978 - Frank Lampard, English footballer * 1978 - LaVar Arrington, American football player * 1978 - Jan-Paul Saeijs, Dutch footballer *1979 - Charlotte Hatherley, Former Ash guitarist * 1979 - Charles Howell III, Professional Golfer * 1979 - Cael Sanderson, Olympic Wrestler *1979 - Lani Billard, Canadian actress *1980 - Damián A. Fernández Beanato, Argentine journalist * 1980 - Carlo Festuccia, Italian rugby union footballer * 1980 - Fabian Wegmann, German road racing cyclist * 1980 - Tony Lovato, American singer and guitarrist (Mest) * 1980 - Franco Semioli, Italian footballer *1983 - Darren Sproles, American football player * 1983 - Cherrie Ying, Hong Kong actress * 1987 - Kamil Król, Polish footballer *1987 - Darko Miličić, Serbian basketball player *1997 - Maria Lark, Russian-born American actress Deaths * 451 - Theodorid, King of the Visigoths * 840 - Louis the Pious, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (b. 778) * 885 - Bernard Plantapilosa, Count of Auvergne (b. 841) *1597 - Willem Barentsz, Dutch navigator *1668 - Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (b. 1620) *1776 - Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and manufacturer (b. 1704) *1787 - Karl Friedrich Abel, German composer (b. 1723) *1800 - Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, German mathematician (b. 1719) *1820 - Manuel Belgrano, Argentine lawyer and politician (b. 1770) *1837 - William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1765) *1869 - Toshizou Hijikata, Shinsengumi vice-commander (b. 1835) *1870 - Jules de Goncourt, French writer (b. 1830) *1906 - John Clayton Adams, British landscape artist (b. 1840) *1925 - Josef Breuer, Austrian psychologist (b. 1842) *1945 - Bruno Frank, German author (b. 1878) *1947 - Bugsy Siegel, American crime figure (b. 1906) *1952 - Luigi Fagioli, Italian race car driver (b. 1898) *1958 - Kurt Alder, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902) *1963 - Raphaël Salem, Greek mathematician (b. 1898) *1972 - Howard Johnson, American businessman, originator of restaurant chain (b. 1897) *1976 - Lou Klein, American baseball player (b. 1918) *1978 - Mark Robson, Canadian film director and producer (b. 1913) *1992 - Sir Charles Groves, English conductor (b. 1915) *1995 - Emil Cioran, Romanian-born French philosopher (b. 1911) *1996 - Jim Ellison, Singer/Guitarist for the band Material Issue (b. 1964) *1997 - Lawrence Payton, American singer (The Four Tops) (b. 1938) *1998 - Conrad Schumann, East German border guard (b. 1942) *1999 - Clifton Fadiman, American author (b. 1902) *2002 - Erwin Chargaff, Austrian biochemist (b. 1905) * 2002 - Tinus Osendarp, Dutch runner (b. 1916) *2003 - Bob Stump, American politician (b. 1927) *2005 - Jack Kilby, American electrical engineer, Nobel laureate (b. 1923) * 2005 - Larry Collins, American writer (b. 1929) *2006 - Billy Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1918) *2007 - Trevor Henry, New Zealand Justice (b. 1902) Holidays and observances *Day of The Royal Victorian Order. *Roman Empire – Festival in honor of Summanus. *Ancient Latvia – Zalu Diena. *UNHCR - World Refugee Day. *Flag Day in Argentina (1938). *Audie Murphy Day; in honor of US Army soldier Audie Murphy - Texas observance *West Virginia – West Virginia Day. *American Radio Relay League – Bring your Handy-Talky to Work Day *American Eagle Day – House Resolution 341 Liturgical feasts *Saint Adalbert of Magdeburg (died 981)*Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4. *Saint Silverius Pope (died 537) *Saint Benigna *Saint Florentina References External links * BBC: On This Day * * On This Day in Canada ---- Category:June